JPANet: Score big against trafficking!

It’s late in the game. The Indiana State legislature has the goal
in sight, but not much time to move the ball.
With the Super Bowl in Indianapolis approaching February 6, Indiana
Governor Mitch Daniels has said it is critical the State pass tough
anti-trafficking legislation in the brief New Year’s window before the NFL
championship game. The
NFL and Indiana authorities are working with groups to address the problem,
training thousands of volunteers to spread the message against trafficking. But
an effective law enforcement game plan is necessary to
prevent and prosecute the wave of sex trafficking that accompanies the Super
Bowl.

“The number one destination for
criminals exploiting young girls is that event, large sporting events, and (the
Super Bowl is) the largest one,” Governor Daniels said recently, encouraging
the Indiana General Assembly to take action on anti-trafficking legislation
when it convenes January 4. The statistics are predictable. Major sporting
events around the world like the soccer World Cup and the Olympics, but also
like the Super Bowl in the U.S., encourage increased sex trafficking, including
the exploitation of young girls. It is estimated
that between 10,000-15,000 prostitutes were working during the Super Bowl activities
last year in Dallas and two years ago in Miami.

Of the global surge in trafficking in
persons for forced labor, sex, or criminal enterprise, at least 100,000
children are trafficked into the U.S. each year, and many more, especially
at-risk youth are trafficking from state to state. Indiana is a state where
trafficking has been a problem. In May
2011 Indianapolis authorities helped successfully break up a multistate prostitution ring that smuggled women into the
United States from Mexico and Central America.
Arrested ringleaders were charged with interstate conspiracy and
prostitution, but like other states Indiana lacks tough
legal parameters specifically designed to prosecute and deter human
trafficking.